I want to thank everyone who came out on March 18 for the Mets talk at the New York Public Library Grand Central Branch in Manhattan. Thanks first of all to Brian Wright for setting it all up. Brian, the author of Mets in 10s, also set up a table to share at the Queens Baseball Convention in January. Poor guy was born the year after the Mets won their last World Series, but he really knows his stuff and is very good at running events. And, truly, it’s great to have another writer there to help draw more people and to make it more fun. And Brian’s girlfriend Natalie to not only helped carry the books to the library, but she helped him drive to Washington, D.C. in time for work the next morning!

Thanks, of course, to the nice crowd who came and wanted to know about Shea Stadium Remembered. Special thanks to my sister Marie and my nephew and godson, Nick Marich, who took the train in from the burbs and went to dinner with me afterward at Pershing’s. And a photographer named Drew became the first person to tell me he is buying one of my books because of the Jets—there’s actually a lot about the Jets, and a surprising amount about the Yankees, not to mention Robert Moses, Walter O’Malley, and a team called the Metropolitans.

Shea Stadium Remembered will be coming to the Grand Central Branch of the New York Public Library on Monday, March 18, at 6 p.m. Author Brian Wright of Mets in 10s hosts the event.

The address for the Grand Central Branch is 135 East 46th Street. I’ll be bringing as many of my books for sale as I can carry on the train. You can bring your own books as well. But no signing library books—I don’t want any trouble!

Things to look out for: A return gig on the morning show of WKNY in Kingston on Thursday, March 7, at 7:35 a.m. on 1490 AM with Dan Reinhard and the gang.

I mused with Mets Musings a little while back. Great fun. Also thanks to having me on WLIE on Long Island. And for Lloyd Carroll including me in his column for New York Sports Day. Thanks all!

I have been on the air with Dan Reinhard of WKNY in Kingston to talk Mets more times than I can count. We were both in the same studio for our last gabfest, all ’bout Shea. Listen in.

I found out this week that people really love the MLB Network! My appearance for Shea Stadium Remembered with Brian Kenny, John Hart, and Ryan Dempster was better than I could have imagined. Those guys were phenomenal! And the interview with Brian Kenny (take a look) was great. Glendon Rusch even texted his old Cubs teammate Dempster about Shea shenanigans during the show and he shared that story on air. I didn’t tell them my pal Jim Humiston texted me during the show and told me to sit up straighter. I did!

MLB has a vast complex in Secaucus, NJ—just down the road from the former longtime home of Mets baseball, Channel 9. There are dozens of people studying baseball in the MLB building (the NHL Network is there as well). There is a separate building for taping. A lot of times these sets are small when you see them—this place is bigger than Citi Field before they brought in the fences.

Celebrity sighting: I got my makeup done next to Heidi Watney, who was talking to new Hall of Famer Jim Thome. That’s about all the name-dropping I can do right now, but one for the road—show producer Micah Karg put everything together and made me feel like “I got this.”

And thank goodness for a snowstorm that same day! The cabin fever got many people in front of the TV in the middle of the afternoon to watch it live. Several people I know up here were flipping the channels to see if Bryce Harper or Manny Machado (ever) sign. Instead, they saw me. Sure, the snow made the drive home a little hairy, but I was gliding on air—and no I didn’t have anything to drink until I got home. Thanks to all for the kind words and good thoughts. And for buying the book! Shea Stadium Remembered is the #1 new sports history book on Amazon!

For everyone who thinks—or thought—that Shea Stadium was an eyesore that no one cares (or cared) about, tell it to the MLB Channel. They are having me on MLB Now to talk Shea Stadium Remembered with Brian Kenny. Tuesday, January 29, at 2 p.m. Set your alarms and DVRs, but it will be rebroadcast a few times over the next 24 hours.

The amount of money I put it into Shea Stadium is an unknowable sum, but I think we just got paid back a little bit. It’s only been torn down for a decade—the last piece went down on January 24, 2009. But as most of you know, getting a payoff from anything Mets related can often take a while.

A nice writeup—and from what I can gather, the first for Shea Stadium Remembered—comes from AMNewYork by Brian P. Dunleavy. I did the AMNY interview a week ago, but did not come across the article until several days later via a repost on social media. Those become even more important with each book. But I appreciate the article, the people looking out for me on social media, and, most important of all, thanks to all who have read the book. And like Wile E. Coyote said about Acme Supermarkets, “Tell a Friend!”

Made it back safe and sound from the sixth Queens Baseball Conference, beating the heavy snow hitting near me up north, but getting a nice parking ticket in Astoria. It was a small price to pay for sharing Shea Stadium Remembered with the best fans in baseball, and sharing a table with Mets in 10s author Brian Wilson and his dad. Got to meet fans new and old of my work, including Janie, Michelle, Will, Oscar, and a host of others.

Having our own spot—in a great location—made for a great place to meet up with old friends and acquaintances like Greg Prince, Jesse James Burke, Pete McCarthy, Darren Meehan, Mark Healey, and more. I did see a few recognizable faces that paused ever so briefly in front of our area, even if we didn’t get to say hi, we were giving back the good vibes of how much we appreciated Edgardo Alfonzo, Ed Kranepool, Darryl Strawberry, and Todd Zeile—if you want to go alphabetically. And let’s hear it for David Wright, who did a short video with Steve Gelbs to say what an honor it was to receive the Gil Hodges Award. Class Act all the way, just like the QBC—thanks again Keith Blacknick, Dan Twohig and the QBC staff. Can’t wait for next year.

If you are going to the Queens Baseball Convention on Saturday, January 19, congratulations! That was one hard ticket to get. It sold out before Christmas and I struck out a couple of different ways to get in. But author Brian Wright of Mets in 10s generously offered to share his vendor space with me and we will be there Saturday selling copies of our books.

Shea Stadium Remembered is officially released this week. It’s been a decade since Shea was dismantled and demolished, but I went picking through the rubble of history to unearth what Mets fans want to remember from the old place—and what they can’t forget. Like Shea itself—it may not have always been pretty, but the memories of the players, the people, and the days we’ll never get back made this project a lot of fun. Hope you agree. Stop on by and Shea Hey on Saturday at Katch Astoria at 31-19 Newtown Avenue.

Brian and I are even working on a special deal so people can buy one of each of our books at the event for a nice price. If you got shut out from going to the QBC, Brian and Wright will be collaborating again at the New York Public Library for a signing on March 18.

It has been a couple of years, but I have a new book coming out. The publication date for Shea Stadium Remembered is January 15, 2019, though it’s available before the pub date if you order it online or through your book store. Or you can drop me a line and I will arrange a signed copy for you.

What’s the book about? Shea Stadium. Lyons Press, which has published my last three books, asked for me to take on the subject. I jumped at the chance to tell the story of the place I spent way more than 1,000 hours and sat in every seating area from the Press Box to the Picnic Area. The only team that called Shea home that I did not see play was the Giants, one of four teams to host games at Shea in 1975. I saw the Yankees, Jets, and—yes—the Mets all win home games there. I missed Shea’s two landmark Beatles concerts—and was grounded instead of seeing the Who in ’82—but I did see The Police and was in the crowd for the “last play at Shea” with Billy Joel in 2008. I attended the ’86 World Series, the Subway Series, saw Lenny Dykstra’s remarkable blast in the ’86 NLCS, Todd Pratt’s home run and Bobby Jones’s one-hit masterpiece that clinched Division Series a year apart, and I saw the Mets clinch the 2000 pennant as Shea swayed.

I saw too many blown leads than I care to count and I saw Shea go down in defeat on its final day. But I walked out with my head high after the postgame tribute, which outdid any other ceremony the place ever saw—though I was at home, oblivious, doing my elementary school homework on Willie Mays Night in 1973, so maybe that was a better night. At least they won that night—and almost ran off with ’73 world championship. But that’s a story for another book.

I don’t bring that up to brag, but to lay down my bonafides. I have written numerous books on sports and the Mets, but Shea Stadium is where I came to know sports, the camaraderie among people sharing the same (misguided) passion, and I feel fortunate to be able to pass on the history of the place for people who may not have known it as well—or at all. And while I may denigrate the place now and again—it wouldn’t be accurate if I did not—I feel Shea was my home as much as it was Swoboda’s or Seaver’s or Koosman’s or Kingman’s or Mazzilli’s or Stearns’s or Strawberry’s or Doc’s or Keith’s or Carter’s or Bobby O.’s or Bobby V.’s or Leiter’s or Piazza’s or Reyes’s or Wright’s. It belonged to us all. And Shea may be a decade gone, but the stories live on. They shine again for a second every time someone poses in front of the original Home Run Apple or strolls across the Shea Bridge. Welcome back home.

We have been doing some upgrading of the site. Get ready for a relaunch at the end of February. Well, maybe relaunch is too big of a word. But it will look different. If this is loaded properly by me (and based on this post being several days old upon publication, this is not my first try), this is kind of a spring training reveal. Whaddya think?

One thing that was the same was the always awesome Queens Baseball Convention. The Mets even sent a couple of people from marketing and promotion to talk to the people and they handled some pointed questeions well and honestly. Todd Hundley was back in New York and Chris Flexen, whom I missed. And the panels on the State of the Mets and the Uniforms were their usual brilliant selves. But the star of the day was Brandon Nimmo.

I have been rotting for him since he came up. I admit I was skeptical that they spent a first-round pick on a guy from a state without high school baseball. But he can play and play the right way. And his attitude is even better than this batting eye. And I was one of the few people who have been to Wyoming. I lived in Colorado for a little while and I’ve been to Wyoming like six times. I’ve been to Frontier Days twice. And I like neither rodeo nor country music. So Nimmo and I have that Wyoming crush in common. We both like the Mets, too.

I have to thank Keith Blacknick for giving me the OK to come the morning of the event when I realized very late that Katch Astoria was sold out. Also thanks to up and coming Mets author Brian Wright; Jesse James Burke, barrister and memorabilia man who treats me like a king, and Marty Gover, Ed Kranepool’s agent, who met me there—and who is still has a lot of Kranepoolian memorabilia available through the end of January for those who are interested in meeting the Krane at his home. Contact Momentum Sports if you are interested (212-918-4545).

I hope to have even more of a presence at the next QBC. But right now I am working on a book on our favorite ballpark. More on that later.